What makes a good forum?

Why is WebmasterWorld sucessful and what other ideas could be implemented?

[stickledene]

OK, here's an interesting question: "What, ideally, would you like to find on a forum relating to widgets?"

By this I mean what features should the forum implement. Taking WebmasterWorld as an example there's the ability to flag posts, sticky mail, use profiles, the 'recent post' link, the site search function etc etc.

Now, I can't actually think of hardly any more (literally only a couple of) features that WebmasterWorld doesn't have. The reason I'm asking is because I need to begin codeing a forum for a web site and would like to know which features you guys find the most useful. Which one's you use. Which one's you don't use. Any features you can think of that aren't implemented here?

I've got a large list of features that I'm going to implement. It's quite a large project and I would like to have all (or at least *most*) of the ideas before I start.

Any input greatly accepted as always.
(Morning all by the way, to anyone on GMT)
Sticky

[Bradley]

You might want to wait: [bestbbs.com...] and perhaps relay your ideas to Brett for incorporation into BestBBS (if they're not there already)....

[stickledene]

Blimey! I didn't know about that!

Any ideas when this BestBBS is going to be available? Estimated dates etc?

Thanks for that

Sticky

[Bradley]

To add to this, beyond the technology, the people make a forum a success.. Setting a good "tone" and controlling flames and spam are key. I've participated in many forums (even was a moderator back in the day) and have seen the ebb and flow of forums..... Sticking to the issues is key.

To answer your specific question about the technology, I made a recommendation to Brett to provide functionality to report spam to the moderator(s).. I find myself sending quick StickyMail messages to the moderators if I see blatant spam or an innocent URL drop. This would be a nice piece of functionality to have, but then you have to be careful that this piece of functionality doesn't get abused..

[pendanticist]

Cool thread. :)

<disclaimer>I know very little about serving up what we have, let alone if any of these suggestions are logistically feasible.</disclaimer>

Which one's you use.

Site Search.

Just clicked Library. Might spend more time in there.

Did I say Site Search yet?

Which one's you don't use.

Glossary. Speaking to acronyms - Given the caliber and expertiese of the majority of posters here, It's too broad in scope. Great for the occassional refresher or look-to-see-if-it's-in-there, but pretty generic overall.

Have one that you can periodically update as word of new Software, Applications, Languages, Operating Systems (the list goes on), hits your boards. It would take some doing, but your users who were not involved with the entire thread, could learn immeasurably.

(I've seen some three and four digit acronyms in here that still have me scratching my head. <chuckle>)

Make above clickable links to the thread that best discribes what the acronym is all about. Sort of a 'Hall-of-Fame' thing.

How about utilizing good posts (linked) as supportive reading in your FAQ?

None of the 'flashy make my experience here more to my liking' stuff. Give it to me straight black and white! :)

Any features you can think of that aren't implemented here?

'frills/perquisities' could be an 'option', or perhaps a graduated ability set by some uniform standard?

You could attach it to 'assistance posts' some way as a reward for a truely assisting reply(s) to a poster.

The higher your ranking, the more frills/perquisities you get in return. Something along the lines of rewarding quality, not quantity by awarding 'value' back to the one who helped...say a colored dot in that grey area to our left? Each color would represent a certain level of credibility/expertiese/knowledge kinda thing.

Three dots ... Three different colors. Comprende?

Once certain levels were attained, then give that individual a second mailbox where he/she sets the parameters as to with whom they wish to communicate.

When a thread is closed, post a teeny-tiny little "RIP" icon on the last post and save us from clicking thru.

Some way of knowing how full your stickymail box is, at a glance.

Two delete process commands for whatever in-house communications form you use.

This way when a poster deletes a message - it does not go straight to your bit bucket - without the user having that second chance. If not across the board, possibly an option set by the user?

Having one 'delete' command truely "delete" the message gives an opportunity for 'Ooops!' to not hurt as much.

Hope this helps.

Pendanticist.